Hi, everyone. Welcome to another week's developer's diary alongside real-life experimentation.
Admittedly, this is not one of the most productive weeks. The spreading of COVID-19 continues around me. By that, I mean, it has reached somewhere very close to me, like within 20 meters. Many of my relatives, including my mother, have tested COVID-19 positive. So, I am spending some time with them. However, even such close contact seems unable to make me infected so far. Thus, the title. I guess indie game developers are immune to COVID-19 as there may be some great power from beyond that has plans for me to continue updating this game so I cannot be sick. :)
Alright, dark humor aside. Let's see what happened this week.
1, An Abandoned House in Baldat'Aten'Almaleuna.
It's just another map, what's special?
Well, it contains several secret rooms that contain random encounters. As in a dynamic open world, different factions may take advantage of this vacancy house for their own agenda. Bandits may hide here, rats may build their homes here, and shady merchants who sell highly illegal goods may arrange meetings with their clients here. Each time you enter this house, dice roll, and you never know what you will get until you get inside those rooms. Maybe there will be an ambush. Maybe there will be a new opportunity. Do you think this is your lucky day? :)
2, The main story continues.
After the drama in the Grand Library, we now have the dialogs of the NPC from the Templars added. You can know more about their grudges against the Illuminati. Parts of that story have been written in history books even in the mundane world. If you previously try to decrypt the encrypted book you found in the Grand Library alone while unable to figure out how to do so, you may seek help from the Templars any time at the cost of a negative relationship impact with the Illuminati.
Yet, that's not the full story. A messenger appeared, telling you that you may have been [data redacted]. Who is telling the truth is yet to be revealed in the future. Maybe there is no truth there is only perception.
3, More Cards and More Game Mechanics in Tombstone
Let's start with those vampiric researchers you can find in Site Demeter.
They joined the card game with the new game mechanics "vampiric."
Whenever they damage a target, no matter if that is the enemy player or an enemy minion, they heal their owner the same amount of HP as the damage they dealt. They can be quite valuable to sustain you from an enemy focuses on early aggression to buy you time to get into the late game.
The Plague Mushrooms from the Quarantined Neighborhood now also joined the card game.
They come with the Death Rattle mechanics. Whenever they die, they cause damage directly to the enemy player. Thus, your opponent will know a wall of minions with taunts cannot save them anymore.
Here comes something interesting. This is a tree. Nothing special.
As a tree, they have an ATK value of 0 while having 8 HP as a cost 2 minion.
However, as a tree, they cannot taunt by default.
It seems quite useless on its own. But, maybe you can find some ways to use them creatively.
4, The crafting recipe for Butterfly Wings
You can now finally print those quite useful teleportation items on 3D printers. You can find the recipe on the Floor of Religion of the Grand Library. However, it also reveals a quite dark secret about this item. To create Butterfly Wings you will need to [data redacted].
Well, too bad, not many among us value the life of random NPCs.
That basically covered the major parts of this week's content updates. Other changes include: more windows can now automatically adopt localized text to change lines on their own, map changes in Egypt locations, and bug fixes.
As the Spring Festival is near, a large amount of population movement is expected as people are going back home to reunite with their families. It's possible that another big wave of infection may happen. Stay safe if you are not an indie game developer. If you are, I guess you may be immune to it like me. :)
Today's changelog:
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[Item]Reduced the base value of Human Souls (From 5000 to 3000)
[Abandoned House]The randomly appeared shady dealers in this area now sell Human Souls at a very high price.
[3D Printing]New recipe: Butterfly Wings. (This is a dark secret.)
[The Grand Library]Added a copy of the recipe for the Butterfly Wings on the Floor of Religion.
[Lost in the Sand]Zhang Yin and Harold will go to Egypt after you finish the Grand Library standoff.
[Breached Ancient Tomb]Expanded this area, including a secret room to be opened later.
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Fixed a bug that the 3D printer in the Grand Library's Reading Room has the blueprint of the Analysis Pad.